Improvement in horse-blanket attachments



J. C AYRES.

HORSE-BLANKET ATTACHMENT.

No.18 7,342. Patented Feb. 13, 1877 UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE,

JOHN G. AYRES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'IQ HIM- SELF, WILLIAM AYRES, G. RALSTON AYRES, WILLIAM M. AYRES, AND LEWIS H. AYRES, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN HORSE-BLANKET ATTACHMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 187,342, dated February 13, 1877; application filed January 15, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. AYRES, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improved Housing for Horse-Blankets, of which the following is a specification My invention relates to an improvement in that part of a horse-blanket which is adapted to the hames, and is known as the housing, the object of my invention being to so make the housing in two parts, and so attach the parts to the blanket, that the latter can be easily applied to hames of different widths.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing shows the usual mode of making that portion of the blanket which is fitted to the hames, and is known as the housing, A being a strip of leather stitched to the fabric B, of which the blanket is composed, the ordinary reinrings a a being connected to the strip, one near each end of the same, and the usual cruciform incisions b and b being made through the leather strip and fabric. v

In adjusting the blanket to the harnessed horse, the cruciform incisions are applied to the upper ends of the hame-bars, and the strip pressed downward, so that the four lips made by each cruciform incision will yield and permit the passage of the hame-bars through the strips. (See Fig. 3.)

In order that the housing may fitproperly to the hames, the distance between the cruciform incisions must be equal to the distance between the hame-bars. If the distance betweeen the incisions is greater than that between the bars, the strip B cannot be passed over the same without being puckered, and the stiffness of the leather prevents this, and renders the blanket ill-fitting. For these reasons it has been the practice to sell horseblankets without the housing, the latter being afterward applied, and being made of a special size to su t the part cular hame to which it had to be adapted.

In'carrying out my invention, with the view of making a blanket with a housing which can be easily applied to different sets of harness, in-which the distance between the hemeba-rs varies, I stitch, or otherwisesecure, to the blanket two leather strips A A as shown in Fig. 2, the pieces being so restricted in vlength that there shall be blanket fabric between them to about the extent shown in the drawing.

The distancebetween the cruciform incisions of the two strips, when the latter are stretched apart to their full extent, should be such that the incisions willcoincide with hame-bars which are the greatest distance apart from each other, so that the blanket JOHN C. AYRES. Witnesses:

HERMANN Monssnna, HARRY SMITH. 

